Lafayette special needs child also has special musical talent

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — An 11-year-old blind Lafayette girl with special needs has a musical gift.

Madisyn Alexander has cortical blindness, which only allows her to see colors and shapes, but she displays incredible musical abilities.

Her mother Danasia Benjamin said when Madisyn was just one year old, she would bang on the walls. At the time, Benjamin thought it was Madisyn’s was of finding her way around, since she is blind.

“But when she turned two, it was a complete change from the articulation of the sounds in the music that she would portray,” Benjamin said. “From two and three (years old), that’s whenever everything became clear that, hey, she knows. She understands the music, and she understands the tunes.”

Benjamin said Madisyn was making music before she learned to talk.

“I honestly feel like the music helped her with her language and helped her actually speak and vocalize how she feels,” Benjamin said.

Now, Madisyn plays piano, even though she can only partially see the keys.

“I know how to play the songs by using the keys and playing the harmonies and melodies,” Alexander said.

When asked how music makes her feel inside, she said ‘Impressed!”

“Music is going to be her escape,” Benjamin said. “She’s having a bad day at work, she’s gonna go on that piano. She’s having a bad day with her boo thing, she’s gonna go on that piano. She’s having a bad day with her friends, she’s gonna go on her piano.

“She’s going to fully express how she feels on that piano because that’s her escape from reality.”

Madisyn said she hopes to turn music into a career.

“I hope to teach the kids how to play the piano, the saxophone, all instruments,” Alexander said.

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